Baltimore contract killer gets 19 years in prison after sting

Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun

A Baltimore contract killer, who was caught telling an undercover FBI agent that he would murder someone for drugs and cash, pleaded guilty Thursday and was sentenced to more than 19 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's office announced.

"There are other hit men like Antonio McKiver who commit drug-related murders in Baltimore," U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said in a news release. "Our challenge is to catch them before the next murder so we don't need to chase them afterwards."

On June 7, 2012, McKiver, who went by the street name "Tony Montana," told a confidential informant that he was willing to carry out a murder in exchange for drugs and cash, and the next week a meeting was set up with an undercover FBI agent. The agent told mcKiver that he needed him to kill one of his associates, and would give him $15,000 and a kilogram of drugs.

"That ain't no problem," McKiver, 47, allegedly said in one conversation, according to court records. "Give us the address, a picture, whatever, and we'll take care of that."

The next month, the agent met with McKiver in the parking lot of a Baltimore County hotel, and gave him $5,000, a kilogram of heroin, and a .9 mm semi-automatic pistol. After discussing the hit, agents swept in and arrested McKiver in the parking lot.

Such stings are an increasing tactic being used by federal law enforcement agencies here. The ATF has done a number of stings involving robbery crews, setting up fake robberies and arresting the participants once they commit to carrying it out.

Court records show McKiver, whose nickname derives from the 1983 film "Scarface," has been charged with murder twice, in 1992 and again in 1993, with both cases dropped.

He was also implicated in the 1993 killing of bail bondsman Angelo Garrison Sr. and his 3-year-old son, with federal prosecutors saying he was an "enforcer in a city drug gang" and the middle man who introduced a drug dealer to the 21-year-old triggerman, The Sun reported at the time. He was not convicted of a crime in that incident.

McKiver, then in his late 20s, would later be sentenced in a separate case to 188 months in federal prison for his role in a heroin-related conspiracy.